Charger
by Soulsearcher Ironforge
Summary: Selwyn is a young man who has been cooped up in an institute for as long as he can remember because his X gene was active at his birth. Finally able to control his power, he escapes to try and lead a normal life. But can he really be normal in Bayville?
1. Prolouge

Avalan! Me main muse!  
Avalan: Oh no, she's inspired again… *walks away quickly*

Oh no you don't! *lassoes her muse* You inspired me, so you're staying around to deal with it! Disclaimer please!  
Avalan: This is the DISCLAIMER, meaning we own jack. Well, we know a jack at least….

-_-… oh, that was a good one. Remind me to call on you whenever I want a disclaimer that says just how pathetic I happen to be…   
Avalan: *rolls eyes*

Ahem. This is my first venture into X men Evo. I've been watching it avidly since it came out where I am, but so far, I've generally stuck to anime and matrix fics. I would really appreciate anyone who wants to review, even if it's just to critisize me, but please, no flames (Briar will deal with those, and that's not a good thing…).

Avalan: I don't think there are any warnings we need to point out beside muse abuse, *glares at Soulsearch* and perhaps swearing. It all depends on how the plot and characters develop.

*whacks him over the head* I don't abuse you, I discipline you. Anyway, on with the story!

Prologue: Escape from Hell

There were no windows. All the light in the institute was provided by halogen lamps and dim blubs. It was one of the gloomiest places in New York, inside and out. The architect wasn't going to win any awards. 

A young man smiled grimly at that thought, and crept down one of the lower corridors. He had already broken out of his room, or cell, depending on how you viewed it, and blown the fuse box. He had about a minute before the backup generator kicked in. 

He had been preparing for this for quite some time. In his walk times, when he was deemed with enough control to have 'limited human engagement' he had been tampering with the computers using the skills he had been taught. Biting the hand that fed him, but nevertheless, it had to be done. 

First, he had accessed the blueprints of the base and memorised the best way out of the place from his 'room', then he had tampered with the generator to delay it for two minutes before it kicked in when the main power source was cut off.

Then all he had to do was find out when the guards were changing, and choose a date to escape. 

That time had come. He had blown the lock, and destroyed the cameras, killed the fuse box, and headed towards the main computer room.

It was a simple matter to crack open the computer and steal the hard drive, there was no electricity in it, and he was fairly sure that it had files about him on it. Maybe he even had a last name. All his dog-tags told him was his date of birth, first name and initials.

His mother, if he had one, had named him Selwyn.

Shoving the sliding doors back open, Selwyn took silently off down the corridors, counting the doorways as he absently toyed with the cord dangling from the hunk of metal he had shoved in his pocket.

"Halt! What are you doing here?!"

An instant later, the light flickered back into life, illuminating the institute once more.

Selwyn was exposed, but if they were going to put him back in his cage, he was going to make it difficult for them.

"Dance." Selwyn said, frowning in concentration.

The ground beneath the security guard's foot exploded. He yelped, and jumped to the side, only to have the same thing happen to his other foot. This continued twice more, before the guard sprang forward, pulling out his baton. 

The air around him exploded, and he was blown back, howling and liked by flames that had ignited his clothing and hair.

Selwyn felt sick, but forced himself to run past the carnage he created, ignoring the pleading cries from the man he had seriously injured.

'_I'm sorry, but there's no way I could stay here anymore… you shouldn't have gotten in my way…_'

*~*~*~*

The sky. It was so huge. Horrifyingly huge. Selwyn had seen it before in pictures and holograms, but not in living memory had he stood under it. It just seemed to go on forever. 

His senses were attacking him with startling new sensations. The smell of real air, not recycled through and air conditioner. Hearing the wind through the trees, and birds calling. Pine needles under his bare feet. There was so much to take in.

But he had control now, no matter what the old man said, he could control his curse, and could go back out into society. For the first time in his life, Selwyn felt free.

An alarm sounded behind him, piercing the peace and simple nature. He whirled around, and glared at the facility for a second. What such an evil, ugly building was doing out amongst such beauty was beyond him.

But that didn't matter anymore. 

Selwyn turned around again, and ran away through the trees.

Yahoo! I did it! the prolouge is SO done with, and now (if anyone reviews) I'll start churning out chapters!  
Avalan: Oh joy. More work for the already stressed muse…

Ignore him, but please review! My muses (and self esteem) need them to live!


	2. Adaptions

Um…. I kinda forgot to tell people, but in case you haven't noticed, I've been missing for a couple of weeks, even though I said that I'd start with the chapters. Well, that was my bad, I completely forgot about the two week trip I was going to take the night I posted the prologue. Heh…

Avalan: Well, you never claimed to be intelligent.

Ahem. Now, I stall reply to all your gracious reviews, cuz I'm surprised that I got any…

**Araz:** Okay, you wish has been granted!

**Neva:** It's good to know that someone likes this! Wait, wait a sec, did you say a third season?! It's not like where I live is a back-water country, it's just that Cartoon Network hasn't been good to me lately… But seriously, I'm going to properly explain Selwyn's power soon… very soon… *cackles insanely* but… I'm 

**JMJ: **Gee, I wonder where you might have heard that before… Say nothing or I'll sic Avvie on you/

Avalan: -_- Grr.

Convincing…Anyway, from now on, all the chapters will be in first person instead of third, as when I was going through the next chapter in my hotel room, I realised that it just wasn't up to scratch so I decided to revert to my preferred style.

Avalan: In other words, she thought it stunk like skunk, and re-wrote it. 

*glares flatly* Just do the disclaimer thing and get this weeks torture session over-with.

Avalan: *raps badly* If I owned this plot I would be happy, but since I don't the world is distinctly crappy!

I'm _so_ not with you…

Chapter One: Adaptations 

I reached a deserted roadside and, still admiring the huge and wonderful world around myself, started walking down it. There wasn't anything else I could do, really, because I hadn't as such planned what I was going to do once I got out of the base. I was in the middle of what appeared to be a forest going by the thick trees on each side of the road, and all I knew that I was in the general vicinity or America. I knew almost nothing at all at the time. 

So I kept walking, and hoping that I might run across a road sign. 

The guard bursting into flames was still playing in my head. I was feeling so guilty about it. I had meant to scare him away, not kill him. His horrified shrieks spurred me to walk faster and wrap my arms around myself. 

Then I noticed my clothing. I was dressed like I was about to go into surgery or something. A thin white shirt and pants of a similar material; the one size fits all kind. I didn't have any shoes. The people that looked after me never thought that I'd need them, so my feet had always gone un-adorned. Even now shoes feel weird, and I prefer sandals or nothing at all.

As I was saying, I walked. I don't know how long it took, but eventually I came across a sign to the side of the road that helped. 'Welcome to Bayville'

*~*~*~*

Some time later, as the sun was going down I found myself crouching in a dark alleyway, stealing people's wallets in a less than conventional way.

The back-pocket seams burst on every man that passed me by, and I would scoop up the wallets that fell out when no one was looking.

I didn't know too many things about modern society, just what I read in the book that the various scientists gave me in between training, but I did know that if I had enough money, I could get myself a hotel room, and that was what I had intended to do. I could hardly try to live a normal life if I was living in a cardboard box by the side of the road.

So I stole. I wasn't proud of it, I hated using my abilities like that, but I kept telling myself that I had no choice. I knew nothing at the time about the existence of any other freaks; I had never actually thought about it before. Even if I had known, then I wasn't even sure if I would seek them out. 

Thoughts of a family and home consumed me and I believed that if I couldn't eventually find my original family then I wouldn't know what to do. It consumed me. I was finally free, and I would make whoever had abandoned me either accept that I wasn't dangerous anymore, of make them understand how much it hurt me to have to grow up alone.

I raided the wallets that I collected and weeded out the actual money I could find and then wandered through the chilly twilight towards the other end of the town rather than the one that I had came in, as it was mostly suburbs. A slightly seedier district would have accommodation I could afford.

And so when I found myself standing outside a ramshackle motel with about three cars in the parking lot I knew that I had found myself a temporary residence. At least until I had established myself a proper identity.

I headed for the front desk. 

"Excuse me kind sir, but might I purchase tenancy in one of your rooms?"

I seedy little man behind the counter looked at me like I had just declared I was a swan and had started dancing around the room naked.

I didn't understand what I had said at the time, but later on I realised that my language had been too formal, even though I had just tried to be polite.

"It's ten dollars a night." He said, staring up at me from his magazine. 

"Oh, alright then." I murmured, and rifled around in my pocket and pulled out my bundle of notes. 

The man checked my note, then reluctantly handed me one of the keys off one of the many hooks on the walls. "You're in room 23."

"Thankyou sir."

I backed out of the main door, and walked quickly across the parking lot to get myself settled.

*~*~*~*

"Pardon me, is this where I can enrol for this school?"

Mwah, and this is where I leave you all.

Avalan: She can't think of anything else to put until the next chapter.

Let me ask you something, why are you my muse again? Why do I put up with you?

Avalan: Cuz no one else will?

You have a point there. Anyway, stress-less all those that want elf-age etc, they're coming in a chapter or two, at the school. There's something wrong with everyone's favourite escapee, and will it blow his cover? Who knows?!

Avalan: Who cares.

Everyone but you.


	3. School Daze

To comply with a request given to me by my SOLE reviewer, I have left Avalan hog-tied in my bathroom. *squeaks can be heard in the background* Shuddup!

Ahem. To the ONE LONESOME REVIEWER who I therefore dedicate this chapter to, as I wouldn't have continued writing without your pestering. So… yay!

^___^ I like his name too.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I have, and most likely never will go to an American high school. So, don't blame me if my descriptions are ever-so-slightly off the mark, but I'm just going by what I've seen in movies and stuff…

Disclaimer: I own nothing but a sketch folder and a couple of mangy pencil-stubs.

**School Daze**

I was stealing wallets again the night before I went to school, in the rain, and got my new clothing absolutely soaked. That's right, I gave up my old hospital rags, and bought myself the first pieces of clothing I came in contact with. Well, you can't claim I'm not a guy… 

But I somehow managed to get the sizing horribly wrong… I thought I went by ages, so I brought everything in size 16, because there was no size 17. I still don't like to bring that up, it's really quite embarrassing, but I didn't really know what I was doing; I was an out of touch kid with no parental guidance or anything. I was completely alone, and suffering for it.

I also didn't know how to deal with a head cold. I woke up in my dingy little hotel room feel like my head was filled with something infinitely heavier than water, but still managed to slosh about when I moved, and make me feel nauseous by moving. My nose was blocked, and my throat hurt like it was coated with sandpaper(1). 

But, eventually, I got myself up, and choked down some of my tasteless cereal, and tried to make the best of it.

That day was Monday. My first day of school.

I dressed myself in my loose dark blue jeans, which constantly slipped down my hips, and tan sweater that was falling off my thin, pale shoulders and ran a hand through my messy back hair in an attempt to straighten it. My bark blue eyes were red-rimmed in the half-light coming from beyond the tartan curtains that refused to open, and the dust in the room clogged my nose even more than usual, and made me cough and sneeze. 

It was a relief to step out of my motel room, and I stopped in through my weary stumble towards the school grounds at a pharmacy and picked up a small box of tissues. I needed them by that point, I had been rubbing my nose raw by wiping it on my overly-long sleeves and black gloves. Remember, before you cringe at my appalling manners, I was working under a tight budget, and didn't really know what to do about a leaking nose.

When I reached the school grounds, barely aware of my arriving, the sky was once again overcast, and rumbling threateningly. The other students were all hurrying towards the main door, their conversations kept to hushed and worried words. Even through my stuffed nose I could smell the storm coming. It was obvious. 

I stood for a moment, being buffeted by the cold wind blowing past the school, and looked at it. That was a building I would be walking to daily for almost a year. I had been told that I was the right age for a senior. I didn't know what that meant, but it sounded okay. Though, the thought had crossed my mind that I might be re-learning what I'd already been taught. It was possible, I didn't really have much to do except learn in the institute.  

When I entered the bustling corridor, it was filled to the brim with students all too eager to keep out of the impending storm, all milling around chatting.

I felt crowded. I hadn't been around this many people my entire life. All I had to do was walk through the crowd to the office and pick up my timetable but it suddenly seemed like the hardest thing in the world. I'm not sure whether I was hallucinating or not, but the corridor seemed to suddenly stretch on forever.

I swallowed thickly grimaced, and started to duck and weave as well as I could through the throngs of students. 

It was like a video game, where you have to go around the sliding blocks, and choose just the right moments to jump onto the swinging thing to reach the other side. People were constantly moving positions, going in different directions and changing course themselves, making negotiating anything hard. I think I would have lost all my lives by this point, the most memorable moment being when I walked headlong into another student. We both jumped back a few paces, and I must have stared, surprised.

He was of average height, comparatively not too much taller than myself, and had blue-black hair that almost reached his shoulders.

"I'm terribly sorry!" I said, making myself look remorseful.

"Sorry." He said in return, while moving past me and off down the hallway again. He had an accent that I couldn't place at the time.

It seemed that bumping into people was a regular occurrence. Well, at least where I was concerned.

My timetable was abominable. It could have been written in Swahili as far as I could tell, but it was supposed to tell me where my first class was. Joy.

Just what I needed at the time, a headache on top of a cold. 

The halls emptied surprisingly quickly, and I soon found myself alone. Every now and again, a stray person would trickle past, and eventually I struck up the nerve to ask one.

"Excuse me… Hey!"

A tall young man with red hair and eyes hidden behind sunglasses slowed down and stopped.

"I don't mean to be a bother or anything, but can you tell me where I'm supposed to be right now?"

I handed him the sheet of incomprehensible paper, and he looked at it for a second.

"Sure. You're… in the same class as me." 

His eyebrows raised slightly behind is shades, and he shifted his books into his other arm, partially bared by his jumper rolled up to his elbows.

"You don't have to tell me, I know I'm puny…"

He laughed, and we moved on together.

"I'm Scott. I take it you're new here?"

Finally! I knew someone's name! It was instantly in my memory.

"My name's Selwyn." I grimaced at the funny look on Scott's face. "Again, I know, it's weird."

He stopped in front of a room, and we both went in.

"Sorry I'm late, I was showing Sel where our class is."

I was suddenly stuck somewhere between terror of actually meeting people, and being enormously happy at finally having a nickname. In the institute I had been called 'the kid' or 'he' so it was a big change.

The woman standing at the front of the class smiled at me, and beckoned me closer from where I had been standing near the door, unsure if I could move.

"Everyone, this is our new student. Why don't you take a seat over there?"

I found myself slotted abruptly in the second row in the middle of the class. The people I passed gave me curious looks as I passed, and I felt suddenly like I was immersed in the middle of many different cultures. There were so many different faces, races and cultures all mixing and interacting. It was so new and fresh compared with my old life.

When I pulled back my seat and sat down, the entire world seemed to spin on it's axis. I gripped the front of my desk with shaking hands, and inside my gloves I could tell that my knuckles would be white. Eventually the world stopped spinning so much, and I sat, listening to the teacher droning on, trying to ignore the sound of my pulse in my ears. My nose had stopped dripping by now, and was blocked so badly that I had to breathe through my mouth.

As the lesson moved on, I was incredibly hot, but the desk was incredibly cold. The fans overhead annoyed me and made me shiver, the palms of my hands were sweating badly.

The teacher assigned us some sort of work to do during the class that I didn't hear. I doubted I had moved all lesson.

She walked down the aisles between the desks, checking over people's shoulders. She stopped when she reached my desk, and leant over slightly.

"Selwyn? Are you alright?"

I turned my head to her, and replied faintly that I was fine.

"I don't know, you were pale before, but now ya look just plain sick…" She said, bringing a hand up to hover around my forehead. "You're much too hot to be fine… Scott, you showed him the way here, why don't you show Mr Kai where the nurse's office is while you're at it?" She intoned, not even turned around to say it. Her eyes danced over my face concernedly.

"Uh… yeah." Scott closed his book, and walked over to my desk.

The world was closing in on me. I shoved my chair back, and shakily made my was to my feet. 

The room spun again, and I groaned and put a hand to my forehead.

The smooth leather of my gloves felt sickeningly hot against me, and didn't help to stop the spinning, as I had half-heartedly hoped.

*~*~*~*

By the time we were moving down the hallway, I could tell that something was up. I was loosing control. The lining of my gloves had already stared to shift about it sand, or dust. Soon my gloves themselves would be gone.

Frantic thoughts about why is was here swam through my head. Why had I been so stubborn about school? I could have just waited a day until my fever passed, but instead, I was endangering the entire school by wandering around with my powers unchecked. I might accidentally hurt someone, or worse.

I can vaguely remember stumbling into a drinking fountain and insisting on stopping.

I stripped off my gloves and gave them a rough shake, trying to get all the ashes out.

Scott was hovering, so I hastily wet my face and tried to regain my breath. My gloves had been shoved into one of my over-sized pockets.

Then I realised something. The fountain was shaking. The button burst out and hit the wall with a ping, and I jumped back, and pulled Scott onto the floor.

I knew all too well what would happen next. 

"Cover your head!"

The fountain exploded with an almighty boom, showering metal, pipe and water over a good ten yards. 

Scott and I were drenched. The back of my right leg stung where some metal had nicked it, but apart from that I was fine. 

I slowly pulled myself onto my knees, then stared at the damage.

"Oh my god… I'm sorry!"

I ran. I didn't know what else to do. I ran past the confused faces of the people in my school, and out into the town. All I had ever wanted was to be normal. I had deep-down known that I could never truly be normal, not while I was still blowing up everything I touched, but I had wanted as close as I could get. The flu had made me weaker, and I could no longer keep up the barriers that I had erected when I was much younger. It would take a lot of self-restraint until I could bring up another. It was all a mental thing, and with my mental facilities on the fritz, I should have expected something would happen.

I found myself outside the same chemist that I had been to that very same morning, and bought a packet of cold and Flu tablets. 

I returned to my hotel room and didn't come out again until someone rapped on my door.

Argh. I wrote the start of this in one night, and the middle and end about a month later. ' Sorry if it's boring or doesn't make too much sense, but I'm tired!

Please review! My fragile little ego can't stand being ignored!

(1) Believe me, I know this feeling all too well. Sick sucks, and I have actually had to go to school in the height of a head cold as well, so I'm writing from experience here! I barely knew where I was for half the day… Just sat there feeling really horrible for most of my classes. (Quote: "I don't even know why I'm here!")


	4. Discoveries and Homes

*dances* You like me, you really like me!

Ahem. Now, since I actually got reviews this time, I shall say something to each, as I do to thank people.

**Small fry: **Thank you!

**Iolo:** I shall never give up! Don't worry about that! *laughs insanely* Yes, I liked the cold, and it was also a good way for him to loose control… god knows I would… And it's also nice to know the name Selwyn is popular somewhere else but in my head… ^_^ Danke!

**Dr. Lauryl:** Yay! You return! It's good to know that you think things have improved. Yea that is the weird thing about language, isn't it? But then again, I used Pharmacist at the start when he buys the tissues, so I wanted to be original. I use all types of lingo. I use many languages. I know all and see all.

Avalan: *points and laughs*

Shuddup. But I readily use German and Japanese in my conversations, as well as English. People call me a walking Thesaurus, and I call them 'baka' (Jap. for idiot). So yeah.

**Shadow Cat:** Wow. You actually went to the trouble of emailing me. I wouldn't… heh… I'm the kinda person that reads without reviewing… then makes people like me feel discouraged (people like me make people like me feel bad… just pondering how that works) … I thank you for thinking that I have plot, even though I just wing it… but I have the general idea and where it's gonna lead, so it's all good. You don't have to wait long at all either, cuz since I'm getting reviews now, I'll be an enthusiastic author! ^_^

**Discoveries and Homes**

When I woke up the next afternoon, it was because someone was knocking on my door. 

At first, I thought it might be the Motel manager looking for more money, but then again, he would have been swearing and yelling as well if it had been him. I was confused to say the least. A name surfaced in my mind. Scott.

He had seen everything. He knew. 

My stomach started churning worse than it had been before as a pulled my carcass off my bed, and glanced quickly in the dirty mirror before I shuffled over to the door, and opened it a fraction of an inch, then groaned.

Scott was outside, as well as a middle-aged man in a wheel chair.

"… yes?" I managed to squeak timidly.

"Hey Sel, can we talk to you for a minute? I think we can help."

He sounded calm and friendly, but I didn't trust him for a second. I find it hard to trust anyone.

I frowned, and instantly went into defensive-mode.

"I don't need help. I'm fine."

I slammed the door in his face, and leant on it. Why couldn't they just leave me alone? He knocked again.

"I know how you feel." He said, muffled through the door.

"You know nothing about me!" I yelled back.

There was silence for a second, and I almost thought they had left.

"Would it make you feel better to know I can do something similar?"

I froze up. The idea was entirely plausible, but not quite believable.

"… Who's that with you?"

"Professor Xavier, he's the one that helped me."

Panic over-took me. Not again. Never again. By my experience of Professors at that time, professors did experiments on you. Professors hurt you. Professors locked you in a concrete cell for half your life.

"Oh GOD NO. I am going nowhere if it's with another one… never again."

There was silence again, then a muffled conversation that I couldn't quite hear. If they didn't go away soon, the manager would throw me out for all the noise.

"Selwyn. I know that you're scared. I know that you have been locked up somewhere before, haven't you? Let me talk to you."

"Go away…" I whimpered. I was almost crying. I didn't know how to deal with a situation like this. I had cried before, plenty of times during my imprisonment, but I hadn't ever tried talking to someone about anything like this, and I hadn't ever thought that I would have to.

But in a way, I wanted to hear what they had to say. Something inside me was urging me to trust Scott, maybe just a little bit. He had been nice to me.

I unlocked the door, and moved away from it, sitting down exhaustedly on my bed in the middle of the room, resting my head in my hands, wondering how this had happened to me.

"It's unlocked."

*~*~*~*

I sat, half dressed and scared out of my mind as Scott helped the professor wheel himself into my small room. 

I finally got a chance to look at him properly. His head was bald and his eyes were serious but gentle. His hands were held pensively in front of himself, and he wore casual but smart clothing. He looked professional. But then again, so had my professor…

"People have already tried locking me away, if that's what you're thinking, but I'll escape. I have before." I started quietly, not looking up from my hands.

"If I want to get out of somewhere, nothing can stand in my way. If there are atoms, I can destroy things." I stated perfectly seriously, looking the professor in the eye. 

To prove my point, the lampshade behind me crumbled to dust.

"I have control, if that's what you're wondering. Yesterday was a fluke. I was sick. It's hard to keep my focus when I'm trying to stop the ground from spinning."

I needed to state the facts before they started saying anything. I wouldn't go through the 'let us help you' bullshit if I had to.

The professor didn't even look slightly affronted, but Scott looked surprised. My personality had seemed to change a lot since when we had talked yesterday. 

The bulb that lay in the remains of the lamp flickered to life as I fed a small amount of my energy into it. This was a delicate art, so fed the energy slowly and smoothly. Too much would make the wire break and the bulb explode. Believe me, I know, and I have the scars to prove it.

"If you don't have anything more to add, I suggest you leave."

I tried to stay civil. If I lost my temper, I might lose control. 

Scott looked offended.

"I'm sorry… but I don't want to get put in another institute." 

I stood up, and walked over to my almost empty set of draws, and pulled out yet another oversized sweater.

The middle of my back tingled, as someone's eyes followed me, staring at my back.

The criss-crossed scars would need an explanation, so I tried to think of a polite way to say 'I was whipped a lot.'

"The professor that I had once associated with felt the need to… punish me on occasions."

I tugged the sweater over my head, and tried to ignore Scott's eyes boring into the back of my head as I adjusted the collar so it would sit properly on my shoulders. When I sat down again opposite the two, the one in the wheelchair started to talk.

"What I am offering you is a place to live. I run a facility that trains people with abilities like your own so that they can function in society without endangering others." The professor explained calmly, in a deep voice.

I took that in for a second. I would start my questioning, before I decided on anything.

"So, what do you do?" I asked Scott, trying to sound pleasant again over the frantic beating of my heart, and concentration that it took to keep the blub glowing steadily.

"Well, it's hard to explain without a demonstration, which wouldn't go down well in a building…"

"Ah." I said, trying not to sound sceptical.

"Tomorrow, after school, show me this place. I'm wearing almost everything I own, so if I like what I see, I might just stay there."

I was also fully prepared to make my own exit if anyone got in my way.

"There is no need for threats, we mean you know harm." The Professor reasoned.

A slight thought about how Mr. Xavier knew I had been thinking that niggled in the back of my mind, and after a moment, I replied.

"I'll decide that for myself."

The light bulb flickered out, and as Scott left the room behind his professor, he turned around and gave me a reassuring smile.

"So I'll see you tomorrow then?"

I nodded in reply.

"Undoubtedly."

*~*~*~*

Did you know that children in an unloved environment don't grow properly? It's just another fact that I learnt going though books in my cell. 

I guess that is why when I stood in the cafeteria line waiting to purchase a small carton of milk with what was left of my petty change, I was so very short compared to everyone else my age.

I managed to find an empty table near the corner of the hall, and sat down to read a book that I borrowed from the school library. It was all rather fascinating, and I was absorbed quite happily in the Renaissance until yet another group of people came up and harassed me.

"Hey small fry, that's our table." An obnoxious young man informed me from the other side of the table.

"Sorry." I intoned, memorising my page and paragraph number and slamming my book shut, preparing to leave, not even glancing up. It wasn't worth the brain cells arguing.

"Hey, you're the guy with the fountain, aren't you?" Another voice, just as obnoxious as the first but slightly weaselly asked.

"Pardon? I don't quite understand what you are saying." I replied innocently, ignoring the shiver that ran up my spine. 

I didn't wait for anyone to reply, and walked briskly out of the cafeteria over to my locker and started preparing for my next lesson, Spanish. It was a simple subject because I already knew the language. It's amazing what a person can learn if they have nothing better to do.

I could tell that they followed me; they weren't really subtle.

"I think you _do_ know what my friend's talking about." Voice number one alleged once I had closed my locker, and I finally looked up.

"You obviously think a lot of things. That doesn't mean they're true." I replied calmly.

There were four of them, and each was completely different from the other, but each wore a malicious smirk. The one who obviously thought that he was in charge of his miniature mob had brown, almost shoulder-length hair, with a denim vest and mangy pair of jeans. Another first struck me as a midget, until I realised that he was bracing himself in his hands with his legs bent like a frog. He looked quite at home in the position. His hair was lank and the colour of mud, and his eyes had a distinct yellow tinge to them. He crouched a small distance behind his 'leader', the other two were almost in row. Another was thin but muscular, wearing nice clothing, and had hair a striking shade of silver.

The one next to him wore his hair in a Mohawk, but that wasn't his most striking feature. It was his sheer size. He was… enormous and wore overalls. They made an odd group.

"I'm Lance. You're new here, right?" The one in front said, smiling ruefully at my last comment.

"That I am."

There was strained silence between us, and Lance stared at me expectantly.

"And you are?" He finally prompted, looking slightly inpatient.

"Small fry, apparently."

Lance smiled uncomfortably, and scratched the back of his head in a way that somehow reminded me of a puppy.

"Yeah… sorry about that… But the point is, you're not alone here."

The novelty of finding out that there were other people with special abilities was wearing thin.

"Let me guess, you guys want to help as well?" I asked dryly.

"You've got a smart mouth, ya know?" The white-haired one said so quickly that is sounded more like 'youvegotasmartmouthyaknow?, and just as quickly, was suddenly leaning casually on my right shoulder. 

"Heh, whadda know, just the right height!" He exclaimed, then appeared at my other elbow. "By the way, what's you name?"

I didn't even have a chance to react before he was back in his original position.

All I could think to do was answer the question.

"I'm Selwyn. Selwyn Kai." 

They weren't kidding. No one could move that fast without being slightly 'different', but I was still unimpressed.

It's very hard not to become sour about life and people when in about one week everything has gone wrong. It's not like I expected freedom to be all sunshine and roses, but I didn't expect to be harassed twice about what I had run away from. 

"Oh, gee, look at the time," I started, turning away and ignoring the fact that I didn't actually have a watch. "I gotta get going…"

"Hey!" Lance called, annoyed, and putting a hand on my shoulder, turning me around, which is not a very hard feat considering my size. "We're not done with you!"

"Oh yes you are."

"Back off, Summers."

I repressed the urge to smile as Scott came up behind the 'awesome' foursome. 

"We was just chattin', real friendly like." The one who crouched said, using amazing grammar.

"Yeah, I'll bet." Scott snorted, clearly annoyed, He turned his wrath onto Lance. "Leave the kid alone, Lance."

Now this was getting ridiculous. 

My patience snapped.

"Honestly! I'm in the same grade as both of you! I'm getting really sick of these height references!" I yelled at all five of them. 

Both Scott and Lance looked surprised.

"You," I said, glaring at Lance, "Leave me alone. I can do a lot of damage for a 'small-fry'," I snarled,

"And Scott, just be contented that your new toy is seeing where you live after school, you don't have to harass me now as well!" 

I turned on my heel, and started to stalk off.

"Sel, I'm…" Scott started, didn't let him finish.

"Here's a revelation, I don't care!"

As I made my way down the hallway, I heard, muttered behind me,

"What's his problem?"

Someone snorted in response. 

"Yeah, what's up with that?"

*~*~*~*

I stared sullenly at the pages of my notebook during Spanish, and sulked all the way through Chemistry and Math. I couldn't get over how they were all so interested in my gift. I had serious doubts about any of them wanting to be my friends, especially the Brotherhood of leering. They only wanted to know me because I was different. I believed that I had a right to be sullen, and so I was.

When the last bell finally rang and I had collected all my homework from my locker, I cautiously made my way outside, and stood waiting under one of the small trees.

I didn't know what to expect, and I didn't know how long I would be waiting.

He might have just been pulling my leg.

I waited about ten minutes and was about to leave when someone called my name.

"Sel! Wait up!"

I turned and regarded Scott.

"Take your time why don't you. So where is this place?"

He smiled mysteriously behind his dark glasses, and gestured to the roadside.

"Why don't I drive you there?"

Whoa. 

"Whoa. What did you do, rob a bank?" I felt so good using that. I had waited years to try out the various cliché's that I had picked up from books and the old movies I had been allowed to see.

He drove a small red convertible. I didn't really know much about cars, but I knew that that was a sweet little car. 

Another thing that I noticed about it was that there were several other people in it at the time.

Scott guided me over to the car, and I once again felt very insecure.  
"Ah, so you're ze one!"  
I recognised the voice, and looked down at one of the occupants of the car with a start. I had run into him in the hallways! 

"Um… yeah." I forced a smile, and wondered where I would find room to sit. There was a girl younger than myself with brown hair partially tied back who smiled and waved, and another about my age in the front seat. This one wasn't smiling and waving, she was glaring. Her skin was very pale, and her chestnut hair had two striking white streaks at the front. She wore a shiny black skirt, large boots, and a black tank top with a green mesh one under it. She also wore gloves. The last occupant of the car besides Scott and myself, as I finally found a place to sit in the middle of the back seat was the German boy.

I stuck my hands between my knees, and stared at them. I felt uncomfortable sitting between two people I didn't know. 

Scott started the car and pulled away form the curb. Loud music started, and stared even more intently at my hands as the two in the back and Scott started up a conversation about one of the dances coming up at their school. 

They kept trying to include me in the conversation, but I answered in three-syllable sentences,

"So, do you think you'll go?" The girl next to me asked. 

"Me? No…"

"Oh come on, surely you have someone in mind to ask?" Piped up the one next to me.

"Not really."

"Oh by the way, I'm Kurt, that's Kitty, and the sullen one up the front is Rogue. Guten tag!"

"So, come from Germany?"

"Ja… is it that obvious?"

"Nein… Ich spreche Doich. (1) Meine Doich ist nicht so gut…" 'No… I speak German. My German isn't very good.' I confessed.

"Wie so?" 'Really?' Kurt exclaimed. "Cool!"

I smiled at him, feeling slightly less uncomfortable.

"That is so weird! When did you learn that?" Kitty asked, leaning forward in her seat.

"I've had a lot of spare time on my hands…"

"You learnt on your own?" Kurt asked, amused. "Das ist tall!" 'That's good!'

I blushed slightly, which was fairly obvious with my pale skin. "Danke…" 'thanks…' I replied.

The atmosphere seemed to ease, and the conversation carried on without me. I watched the scenery pass by.

We were going though what appeared to be another forest, when suddenly it opened up, to reveal the sea. I hadn't realised that we were so close to the coast. 

Ahead of me loomed a stately and immense house, no, more like a mansion.

The gates opened automatically for Scott's car, and we drove through into the actual grounds. 

"You live here?" I breathed, my eyes wide.

"Yeah, what did you expect?" Scott asked, faintly amused.

"I didn't expect this, that's for sure."

There was so much room with a lot of places where one could lie and enjoy the open blue sky, and I could bet that the curtains actually opened here as well. It seemed too good to be true, and I almost let down my guard.

"Just how many people live here?"

"we all do, and there's also Jean, Spyke, Logan, Storm and the professor. We should be getting some new recruits in as well, sometime soon."

"I… see."

This seemingly happy bunch of people who lived in a mansion had blown all my previous suspicions completely out of the water.

"Well, it's better than anything I'm used to…"

"Selwyn, where do you come from?" Kitty asked, interested.

"Um… Ah… You see…" My eyes darted back and forth between Kitty and Kurt's faces. Even Rogue was looking at me in half-interest. Now what do I do? "I'm not precisely sure…"

"Hey you guys! Were here!" Scott yelled with false cheerfulness, parking the car abruptly underneath an Oak tree. I breathed a sigh of relief and waited patiently until Kitty had gotten out of the car to follow.

A gentle breeze rustled the near-by trees and I caught a distinct whiff of the ocean. Wow. 

I stared up at the huge manor. It was even larger up close, and nothing like the institute where I had been raised.

I threw Scott a thankful smile as he passed me, hitching his bag over his shoulder.

"Welcome, Selwyn." 

Professor Xavier sat imperiously on the top step at the front of the house, flanked by two other people.

I glanced around, uncomfortable with all the attention, and finally called out to the imposing trio: "Does this thing come with a trial period?"

"You can leave any time you want."

"Alright then. It's not like I have anywhere else to go."

*falls over sideways* Ugh… I needed to get this done before I left on camp… oh, yeah…  
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: The Soul is going camping. For ten days. With leeches. *repressed sob*

Avalan: Leeches and rivers and coffin-sized tents for two!

-_- Oh my.

So I might not be able to update for a little while, but rest assured, I shall be back to inflict even more chapters upon innocent readers soon! *cackles and disappears in a puff of smoke*

Avalan: *sigh* See you. *walks out side door* 


	5. The KAI Project

*hikes wearily back on stage, followed by several flies* Ha ha! I live! *faints onto the keyboard* x.x' *nose hits several keys* 'zzzzzddddddddddddsssssssssssssssssssssssssssx'

Avalan: 0.o'… Umm, please excuse the Author, it's her first day back from camp, and she's kinda half dead… so I guess I have to run things today… what do we do first? Oh yes, reviews!

**Sabby: **Thankyou! ^_^ 1st person is Soulsearch's specialty, and she takes great pride in her Selwyn pieces… he pops up in many things, in many different forms.

**Smallfry: ** I really don't think that Soul's Sellie's a girlfriend sorta person… not that he's gay or anything (I think), he just never considered it before. He's too… how to put it… clueless.

Abast ye hearty soldiers! *falls out of chair* pilloooooow….

Avalan: Oh dear. ****

Disclaimer: We own Sellie-chan, but no one else. Don't sue, it's not worth the brain cells.

*snores and rolls over*

Avalan: -_-;

**The KAI Project**

If the brotherhood are the masters of leering, then Logan is the very master of Looming. 

Not that he's a particularly friendly person in the first place, but I quickly found it better to keep on his good side, or just get out of the way. I also learnt a lot about the other people in the school.

It turned out that Professor Xavier is a powerful psychic, and Scott's eyes send out powerful 'optic blasts', which is why he wears sunglasses all the time. The first time Kitty walked, or 'phased' through a wall I practically had a heart attack, and Kurt can teleport. He also doesn't look like the Kurt that I see at school.

He's blue, and he's fuzzy. He has pointed ears like an elf, and incisors like those of a cat.

The first time I saw him, I stared, and he looked slightly apprehensive.

"You are so…" I searched for a word to describe it, and Kurt looked slightly nervous; he obviously wanted to be accepted. "Cool!"

He relaxed, and smiled.

"Really?"

"Sure! It's not every day one comes across someone with a tail. I've learnt to be open minded."

Spyke, a slightly obnoxious young terror (perfectly normal young teenager) on a skateboard who can shoot spikes from his body that are almost like bone, hence his name, is yet another person in the institute.

Jean is also in my year. There seems to be a lot of tension hanging between her and Scott, and she's also a telepath, but not as strong as the professor. She was very welcoming, and is popular, dating the captain of the football team, which doesn't go down well with Scott. 

Rogue still hasn't said anything to me. Her power is draining other people of their energy, and if they also have special abilities, borrowing them for a short amount of time. 

Storm, a lady with shocking white hair which contrasts with her dark skin (and is consequently Spyke's aunt) can control weather. She's a very patient and mature woman, who doesn't take crap. She and Wolverine seem to be the ones in charge of the horde under Professor Xavier.

I was sharing a room with Kurt, which meant I had a balcony and my own bed. Kurt seemed rather put out by the arrangement, but didn't argue… too much.

We set up a 'you stay on your side of the room, and I stay on mine' procedure, and that was about it. It seemed a bit immature, but I wasn't complaining, the bed was comfortable. 

All the other rooms were either being used, or reserved for whoever might be coming soon.

The night that I moved in, I knocked quietly on the door of the Professor's study.

"Come in, Selwyn." It would take a while for me to get over the whole 'mind reading' thing; it still creeped me out at this stage.

I poked my head into the door, and smiled slightly.

"Um… I just wanted to apologize for being so rude… It wasn't very fair of me to do so without knowing about what you were trying to make me see..."

The professor didn't smile, but he still sounded pleasant.

"It's quite alright, Selwyn. It was only natural for you to be suspicious after what you grew up in." he replied.

"Um… so… yeah…" Lost for words, I twisted my gloves slightly, then turned towards the door.

"Oh, and Selwyn, make sure you're ready for training tomorrow morning."

I turned back around, and blinked. Slowly.

"…Training?"

"Quite. You're one of the X men now."

"I… See."

I turned, quite deliberately, and walked out of the room, my hands flexing at my sides.

So that was what the uniform that I found on the end of my bed was for. The background was black, with a royal blue high-necked collar that ended in a 'v' at the top of my chest, with side bars of the same blue. It came with blue fingerless gloves, a loose belt with an 'X' on it, and a pair of blue ankle boots that clipped at the sides as well. It looked kinda tight, and I was rather image conscious. I started to dread the next morning.

When I got back to my room, I instantly went over the Kurt's desk, and stood behind him. He was doing his math homework.

"That's 3.493." I said, pointing to the question that he was working on. 

Kurt glanced up at me.

"I thought you were staying on your side of the room." He said mildly amused, but still scribbling the answer in.

"I need to ask you something."

"Vat is it?" He asked, turning around to look at me.

"Um… What kind of training is held in the mornings?"

I think he could tell I was apprehensive, because he smiled slightly.

"I'm guessing you haven't seen the danger room yet."

That just didn't sound too healthy. "…Pardon?"

He smirked evilly, and continued. "It's a room filled with sharp things, and moving things, things that shoot, and things that roll and try to crush you! Wolverine shoves you in there, and sees how long you can… stay alive!"

He disappeared in a small puff of smoke, then appeared behind me, and whispered in my ear "be afraid, be very afraid."

After a moment of silence, he started laughing, and sat back down at his desk.

"It's a simulation thing. We all work together, and see how long we can keep going before we die… not really dying though… It's all pretend, so don't worry about it so much." Kurt finally confessed, still sniggering. "Ah, the look on your face…" He shook his head, and turned back to his work.

I raised my brow, and went a-wanderin' in an attempt to find food, until I eventually found the kitchen. Do you have any idea how large that place is? And yet I still had to share a room.

You know how I mentioned Logan's habit of looming? I found out about it the next morning. 

It was about five minutes to six and almost everyone was standing around chatting, and waiting for six to roll around. Kurt had woken me by peering at me and shaking my shoulders, which ended in screaming, about five minutes beforehand, so I was still half asleep. For lack of anything better to do, I was reading through my Chemistry textbook.

I was still reading, oblivious of anything else when a shadow was suddenly cast over me. I glanced up, then double-took. 

"Mr Logan!" I squeaked.

He was _looming_. There was no other way to think of it. He couldn't have looked more threatening unless he had his metal claw-things out. 

"What are you doing?"

"… Reading…"

"And what should you be doing?"

"… Training?"

Wolverine hauled me to my feet by the back of my collar. 

"C'mon then, shrimp."

I suddenly realised that everyone else was gone.

I sighed wearily, discarded my book, and followed him. I had a new nickname, and another person reminded me of my height, or lack there-of. Damn.

Inside a perfectly harmless, if not thick set of metal doors, was a domelike, immense chamber. And I mean immense. It was entirely made of metal, and there was an observation deck up the top. There were panels of various sizes everywhere, which I could tell were hiding various things. 

Everyone else was doing stretches, and had fallen into a slightly revered silence. They were professional about what they were doing… or so I thought.

*~*~*~*

For an hour, I ran around with various things trying to shoot me, impale me, slice me into bite-sized pieces, trap me, trick me, and generally have me hospitalised. By seven, I felt like sleeping again, or collapsing… or possibly melting into a small pile of exhaustedness. I didn't want to know what else was going to be done later on in the training.

"Hey, Shrimp." Mr Logan called as I shuffled wearily after everyone else, eager to have a shower.

All hopes to be somewhere near the front of the shower line died, and I stopped and turned around.

"Yes?"

"Have you had any previous training?"

"…Yes," Of course I had. As previously mentioned, I was a very bored person. When I was eight, I had taken the initiative to ask to be taught how to fight, because I was already planning to escape some day.

"I thought so." Logan said, coming up to me. He almost looked friendly. "You did well for your first try, Shrimp." He told me, whacking me on the back, quite hard, and I stumbled forward a few paces. 

What can I say? I'm frail.

"Eh… thankyou." I replied, unsure what else to say. I resisted the urge to start massaging the pain out of my back.

"But…" 

Ugh. There was always going to be a catch when it came to adults.

"You're still behind. Meet me here at four, and we'll see what you can do, one-on-one."

"… Is it too late to say I'm Buddhist and fighting is against my religion?"

He whacked me on the back again, this time it seemed like more of a warning. "Don't kid around. Now get goin', you're stinkin' up the corridor."

"Yes sir…"

I took off at a jog to stop myself from banging my head against one of the solid walls that surrounded me. 

Just when I thought that things couldn't possibly any worse, they did. Training with Logan. Alone.

I kept trying to remind myself why I was living there, but came up with a blank.

*~*~*~*

They kept trying to feed me. 

I was short and scrawny, so all the other kids thought that I had been mal-nourished at a younger age. It could well have been true, but that was beside the point. I had a slither of toast without anything on it, and a glass of water for breakfast, and they all thought that I was starving myself in protest to the training or something… or on a severe diet. In truth, it was what I was used to.

The kitchen itself was a ruckus, people passing and grabbing things as they pleased, sometimes even throwing things, and I frankly, wasn't used to it.

"Hey Sel!"

An apple came flying towards me, and then exploded mid-way. 

Scott gave me a withering look behind his glasses.

"You were supposed to catch that."

Oops.

"Sorry, I'll clean that up." I said, pointing to the pile of ashes that used to be a healthy red apple. The sticker was sitting in the middle of the pile.

As I swept the soot up into my hands, yet another piece of fruit was shoved under my nose. This time, it was an orange.

Scott smiled at me. "This time, eat it genius."

I smiled, and said "put it on the bench for me? My hands are kinda full."

As soon as his back was turned, I dumped the ashes into the bin, and bolted, ignoring the fact that Kitty was trying to lecture me about a proper breakfast as she piled scrambled eggs onto my abandoned plate. 

I started walking to school, and was picked up halfway through the forest by Scott, who once again slipped me an orange. I ate it for lunch so I didn't have to stand in the que to buy food. I also learnt not to sit in a corner, and leant against a wall next to a bin so I could feed my scraps in as I ate. It wasn't very comfortable, but it worked.

This time, amazingly enough, I didn't get harassed once. I was still being leered at by the Brotherhood, but I also learnt that Lance had a sweet spot for Kitty. Quite cute, really. Whether Kitty returned the affection though, at the time, was a mystery. At one moment, she could be sneering at his advances, then another, she was giggling at his antics to get her attention. I even saw him carrying her books for her.

I would have mused more about this, and even perhaps asked someone about their status if I wasn't so nervous.

"Tough break, man." Spyke had said respectfully as we headed back up into our rooms.

Everyone threw me pitying glances, but no one would tell me what to expect, bar Rogue's helpful comment: "Pain."

As you can probably tell, I threw on my uniform and walked down into the 'basement' of the institute like there was lead in my feet. It sure felt like there was in my stomach.

I practically regretted breaking free at that moment, and was entertaining the thought of running away yet again when I rounded the corner into the danger room and found the whole thing had been repaired, as if like magic.

No one seemed to be there, and I almost left before I heard Mr. Logan's voice coming from the speakers.

"Up here, Shrimp."

Oh great. He was in the observation deck, at the controls.

"Five laps."

"WHAT?!?" I yelled, as the entire room sprung into action, and I was instantly trying to avoid a guided laser.

I was unimpressed, but I did what he asked. 

It's hard to describe exactly what happened because I only remember parts, but just picture a scrawny teenager with black hair in something that looks like an amateur super-hero outfit leaping, ducking and flipping over various implements of mass-destruction and pain, as well as destroying a good number of them. 

You make me make it look easy, don't you? Well, it's not.

I got hit in the centre of my back by a vagrant laser beam on my third round, and had to start again. Wolverine said he wouldn't let me eat until I got it right, and frankly, I believed him.

On my second try, I got it right, and went out straight away to collapse onto my bed. I was still curled up in a corner when Kurt came along and poked me.

"Dinner."

I mumbled something that even I didn't understand, and rolled over. 

I was woken around midnight by my growling stomach and shuffled down the various flights of stairs to the kitchen, and stole a stick of celery from the fridge, and a cold piece of beef left over from dinner.

Friday passed in a blur of the half-dead, and finally it was the weekend.

By the end of my first week, I could understand why everyone at the institute savoured their two precious days off.

The next morning I woke around ten, and celebrated the day by wearing a pair of dark green cargo shorts that had turned up for me, supplied by the Professor, as well as a white t-shirt. They were the right size.

I walked down to the kitchen and ate a nourishing meal of about one egg's worth of scrambled eggs, and gathered myself a glass of water.

"Hey Rogue, are there any computers around here?"

"Yeah, just go round the corner when you reach the library, and it's the third door on the right." She replied in her southern drawl.

My face must have gone completely blank, because she smiled slightly.

"I'll show you… it's not like I have anything better to do."

"Wait a sec!" I pleaded, before heading off like a shot back towards my room, leaving the poor confused girl with my glass of water hastily thrust in her face.

When I came back down, I had the hard-drive that I had stolen from the faculty where I had been brought up.

Rogue looked curiously at the lump of metal in my hands.

"What are you gonna do, anyway?" She asked as she led the way.

"I'm going to take out the computer's old hard-drive, replace it with this one, then hack the files on it, and read them." I explained casually.

"Right… why?" She didn't precisely sound confused, just weary.

"Because," I said with a sigh, glancing around at the room that I entered, trying to remember which one it was, "It might have things on it about me."

I removed the monitor from on top of it, and used my fingernail to start unscrewing the lid.

"Do you have a key or something on you? Even a credit card?"

"Uh… yeah." 

It was a good thing that Rogue stayed behind to watch me, I had forgotten the crucial importance of tools.

I took the ID card off her, and started attacking the screws.

"Aha!" I cried, as the lid finally came off. "Hey Rogue, could you unplug this baby for me?"

The was a rustling noise as Rogue crawled under the bench, and finally, the little lights stopped blinking.

"Danke!" 

When I eventually got the other hard-drive in, I had half finished my glass of water, and had been giving a lesson on fiddling with computers, which included 'you see that thing there? If you want to make a computer stop working subtly, you remove that… or you could pour a can of Dr. Pepper on the key board then run…'

And eventually, I booted it up, and got past the firewall.

"Here we go…"

The screen suddenly was filled by the face of my old keeper, and I knew the background; it was his work-lab.

"Selwyn. If you're seeing this, then you have finally escaped. I trust that you took the entire hard-drive not just copying files; I taught you better than that. The reason why you would be watching this is because you want to know who you are. In truth, I know little more than you do. Your mother was a young mutant of little importance that entered our program so that she could get rid of an un-wanted child… that would be you."

I finally had my answers, but I didn't really want to hear them.

I was well aware of Rogue still next to me, who was now giving all her attention to the screen.

My mother never wanted me. I was a mistake. The world came crashing down around my ears, and the man continued.

"The last three initials of your name, K.A.I, stand for Kinetic energy, Artificial environment, Intelligence program, and also signifies you as company property. Which company, I am not at liberty to say."

All the time when I had secretly hoped to have a family that loved me, or maybe even that the institute was there to help me. Nothing was true. Nothing seemed real. I belonged to a company. I was alive because of the interest of a random company.

"The documents that you will find beyond this point explain the purpose of the experiment, and also have some of your personal records, and progress reports. Happy reading." The picture of the man that had looked after me changed suddenly to that of a normal set of files, all with dates instead of names, bar the last three. Selwyn Project, Melgwyn Project, then Guenivere Project.

I vaguely remember turning off the computer, pushing back my chair, thanking Rogue for helping me, and stumbling up to my room. 

I fell asleep in a thankfully empty room, and didn't wake up until it was night.

Nguh! What did I miss?  
Avalan: -_- The entire chapter. 

Oh… Heh….


	6. Mental Health

Greetings and salutations fellow obsessive compulsives, psychos, otakus, rabid fan-girls (or guys), and whoever else may read this story of mine! It officially the holidays! That means I can torture you all a lot more! *laughs insanely*

Avalan: I pity you all.

**Dr. Lauryl: **… did you call him Selsel? That's also very kawaii! (totemo kawaii desu ne!) I just had to add the whole eating thing, I barely eat in the morning, and was rather disturbed when I saw the other's antics when it came to eating (like when Scott threw an apple at everyone, and Kurt chucked a half-eaten muffin back at him… *sigh* children). It's weird. Unlike my Matrix fic (which I'm very proud of… but disturbed by the rabid reviewers after my blood for not up-dating… for a couple of months), I actually know what I'm doing in this one! I have a not particularly detailed plan for Sel's life after school… but I don't know how to link it though…. Heh… anyway…

**Shadowcat: **Don't worry about review length, so long as people tell me what they think about my story. AH, but do I understand about the whole 'school' thing. I think they deliberately make it sucky.

Mental Health

 "Hey Sel! Just in time to come out to a paaar-tay with the rest of us!" Kurt chirped, smiling at me as I woke.

"No. Thanks."

I rolled over onto my side.

"Hey, what's up, gloomy-guts?" He asked perkily, still trying to get my attention.

"Nothing." I replied in a monotone that didn't even convince me.

"Aw give me a little credit, I'm not _that_ stupid." He said, laying a hand on my shoulder.

I shuddered slightly.

"It's okay, you go."

Kurt reluctantly back out of the room, and five minutes later, I managed to pull together enough energy to get up and shut the door.

I sat down at my desk. Part of me wanted to kill something slowly. Like the person that set up the experiment. Yet another part of me wanted to deny it, and go on like nothing had ever happened. A lot of me wanted to cry for the family that I would never, and never did have. Cry for the unfairness of it all. There were plenty of orphans at the institute, I had known that I had been one in the first place, but at least they had foster families that loved them. I had no one but myself.

I wondered darkly if they would record what would happen if I happened to kill myself. 

I tried to act normal, so I tried to absorb myself in my homework. Sadly enough, there wasn't enough to keep me interested. So, I made an appearance at dinner instead of just eating what was left later on when I was actually hungry. 

"Selwyn?"

"Uh?"

"Pass the salt."

"Uhn."

"Thanks."

People talked around me, but not too me, something which I was all too happy about. 

My small serving of pasta bake sat heavily in my stomach, and I sat with my hands between my knees until everyone else had finished their meals.

I was following the paths of individual threads through the tablecloth when another person said my name.

"Selwyn?"

"Eh?"

"What's wrong? You haven't said a thing all night."

It was Storm. She laid her fork aside, and looked me straight in the eyes.

"Um… just… thinking," I replied, lying through my teeth. In truth I was attempting to go into a catatonic state, but I wasn't about to say that.

Jean, Xavier, Storm, Logan and Scott all gazed at me penetratingly. Was I really that easy to read?

"What? Can't a guy think in peace without people breathing down my neck?"

"We were just wondering if…"

"Sorry… I know I'm being snappish, but I've just got a lot on my mind lately…"

I scraped my chair back, and left the room, closing the door gently behind me. I didn't want to talk to anyone. 

Without even thinking about it, I walked. 

When I eventually became aware of my surroundings, I was closing the front door of the institute after myself. 

Autumn was coming, I could tell from the abrasive night air that surrounded me as I walked a ways down the driveway wand stared up at the stars starting to bloom as the sun crept slowly down the horizon.

Eventually I ran. Not because I was trying to warm myself up, or any other reason, just because I could. The night was perfect for thinking, and the movement of my legs beneath me kept my body busy and adrenaline pumping, and left my mind alone to ponder. And ponder I did.

*~*~*~*

I arrived back at the institute a little after the others returned from their party – the hood of the car that they had used was still warm – and Kurt was zonked out on his bed as I slunk into our room. By the time that the sun rose again, I knew the ceiling above my head intricately, but hadn't gained much sleep.

It was hard to with Nightcrawler snoring and muttering things in German opposite me. That's right ladies and gentlemen, after sharing a room with him, I can easily decree that Kurt is _not_ a graceful sleeper.

When I woke up the next morning, I realised that I still had a day of freedom left, and the first thing that came to mind was reading the files. The second thing that came to mind was that there was a blue person with a tail hanging from the ceiling. I double took, then sat up slowly. 

"Kurt, what are you doing?"

The blue elf stopped at his tugging, cursing and twisting, to look at me, then started to fall. He 'poofed' (as I like to call it) then re-appeared upright a few centimetres from the ground.

"De stupid light blub burst, and now I can't get it out."

It still didn't make sense.

"So why are you therefore hanging from the ceiling and swearing?"

Kurt looked abashed and scratched his head. "Heh… anger management?"

I raised a hand for silence, pushed the dust bin to the approximate place under the light fitting, then waved a hand, almost flippantly, at the ceiling.

The lightbulb crumbled to dust, but, unfortunately something else did as well.

"Dude!" Kurt cried. "You just _fried_ the light socket!"

"… Wow, that hasn't happened in a while…" 

Confused and embarrassed, I continued. "Don't worry, give me a couple of hours to walk down to the hardware store and back, and I'll make it good as new!"

I grabbed my sweatshirt, and left before he could say anything else.

During my long walk down to the actual town of Bayville, I pondered on what had happened. Well, it was something to get my mind off the computer lurking at the back of my thoughts.

I wasn't entirely sure why my accuracy had been so bad. I'd been able to control things properly since I was about twelve. It just didn't make sense that now that I could screw up. 

Breathless halfway there, I stopped at the side of the road. Also odd. I had been the picture of fitness for my size before I got out. 

My breath started coming in gasps, and eventually, I started coughing. 

The thing that really worried me was what I found left on my glove after my coughing fit subsided. Blood.

I knew for a fact that wasn't healthy. I decided to ignore it and hope it went away.

I also decided to console myself for having crappy health, a crappy mood, crappy height and a crappy life in general, by adding something extra to the light. I couldn't wait to see the look on Nightcrawler's face.

With a weary smile, I moved on.

*~*~*~*

"So? Did you fix it?"

I lowered my 'Genetics and You' book from in front of my face, and grinned.

I fumbled around for a second to free my hands, and clapped twice.

The light turned on.

"Do I rule, or what?"

"Dude! That is _so_ cool!"

"Yes, I know, I rule. Please, no autographs." 

We grinned at each other for a second, and I went back to my book. I was putting off the computer, and my health once again. My slogan for the campaign was 'ignorance is bliss'.

I was resigned to the fact that I was going to have bad health for quite some time, until my body built up proper resistance, and, in accordance to my 'slogan', I decided to ignore my body's little rebellions was best.

Still, there was a little voice at the back of my head pointing out that the last time I had ignored my body, I had ended up blowing things up. I ignored that as well.

As the day went on, it became almost hot, and combined with the clear blue sky above, it made the pool too enticing to not use for my peers.

Of course, having no idea how to swim but not wanting to mention it, I politely declined to join the others, and sat I in the shade nearby in shorts and a singlet with my trusty genetics book.

About ten minutes in, I took off my shoes and socks, and enjoyed the feeling of the sandy bricks under my feet, with the sounds of slashing and general revelry as I learnt more about the wonderful world of RNA. 

Five minutes after that, a darker shadow than the dappled ones thrown off by the palm trees above me was cast (once again) over my book. I frowned. I had experienced people looming too many times in the past week or so to not no the signs, and (being the bookworm that I am), it no logner had the impact that it used to.. 

"Could you please move? You're in my light."

The next thing I knew, my book was forcibly removed from my hands, and I was hoisted up by my elbows.

"Hey! What are you…"

I could tell by the malicious smiles on Spyke, Scott and Kurt's faces, and the general direction they were heading in what was going to happen next, and I started to struggle madly.

"Oh please no. You don't understand I can't- Argh! No! You stupid-!"

"Boys, no!"

Splash.

Let me tell you know, that I can handle bathes of all shapes and sizes. I can even handle spas. I cannot, however handle being pitched face-first into the deep-end of a pool. I had never swum before in my life.

Somehow, I reached the surface, and with a lot of coughing, choking and yelling abuse, I reached the side of the pool, and clung to it like a bedraggled rat.

"Are you deaf as well as dumb, or did you just not listen to me when I said that I CAN'T SWIM?!" I broke off into coughing again, and then wiped the water and blood away from my mouth before attempting to continue.

The three culprits looked like they weren't sure whether to be laughing or apologising, so stood there.

Kurt looked almost sick. "Ah, Sel, I think your hand is bleeding…"

With only a quick glance at my hand, I answered, almost flippantly, "No, I coughed that up. But anyway…" 

I didn't get to finish my lecture as the adults in our community swooped down on myself and Kurt, Scott and Spyke.

Logan helped me out of the water, but I insisted on standing myself. 

I was swaying a lot, and my legs left rubbery. Coughing until I was choking, the pool swept towards me once again.

I'm so evil! *sob* how can I be so mean to my Sellie-sel?

Avalan: Like so. *points at chapter*

But don't worry, there is reason behind the madness! Oh yes, and Sorry about the chapter being so very minuscule, but it was the only place I could cut it off without getting too caught up in everything else. Sacrifices have to be made for my sanity's sake.

Avalan: You're sane?!

P


	7. One Step at a Time

**Sabby: **You think my story's popular? Eh. *shrugs* I'm only really updating because I generally get at least one review a chapter, which is good cuz I like this story, but feel discouraged if I don't get reviews. Well, thanks!

**Shadowcat: **You need not worry for hapless Sel-chan's sake, for there is indeed a plan brewing in the foulness that is my mind…. *cackles*

Avalan: -_-' 'ware! 

Fear not, for I am eager up-date gal! As soon as I finish writing a chapter (which can sometimes take a long time if there are tricky spots, which there generally are, but that's beside the point…) I post it immediately, no matter what ridiculous hour it is! *strikes dramatic pose*

**One Step at a Time**

I was sneaking down a corridor again, my bare feet making no sound against the metallic floor, but the small lights near the bottom in the walls of the hallway that lit in front as I came near them were a bit of a give-away. I knew exactly what I was looking for. I had travelled these corridors too many times to not. 

Adrenaline pumping through my veins was the only thing that was keeping my legs from shaking. I would not be denied this right.

Quietly rounding a corner, I paused outside the door to the outside, checking with baited breath if I could hear anyone outside. 

"What are you doing out here?"

My shoulders stiffened instantly, and I slowly turned around, dreading what I was hoping not to see. 

"Um… Bathroom?"

"There's one connected to your room."

Damn.

"Um…"

"Back to your room, shrimp."

"Yessir." 

I shuffled back past Logan and once again towards the med-bay where I had been stationed for the last few days – the longest of my life so far. At least in my cell I had books, but here all I was told to do was rest. But that got old, so as I had the week off school as people tried to figure out what was wrong with me, I wanted to read up on myself. But they wouldn't let me.

No 'mental strain' for the sickly one. No. Instead, I spent my time plotting how to get back upstairs into the slightly more hospitable part of the institute, and back to that damned computer.

Assurances that I had accepted who I was were no good, nor were requests of having the computer moved down. 

One would have thought it would be rather easy, the students went off to school, and the others were surprisingly busy. But not one certain individual. 

It seemed the well-loved Wolverine had no life bar torturing me. The 'adorable' Wolverine had no life. Damn.

I decided almost immediately that I would wait until it was dark before I tried again. Logan had to sleep sometime.

So that night around midnight, I snuck out of my room, one of my thin bed sheets tied around myself toga-style for extra warmth. The lower corridors were clean. 

I opened the door to the outside again, and stuck my head out. It was dark, but so far clear.

I was half way there when I heard someone behind me.

"Selwyn? What are you doing out of the med bay?" Kitty demanded, holding a glass of milk and in her pyjamas.

I grimaced. "Kitty, pleeeeease be quiet."

"But you're sick, you should be in bed!"

"That's not the point! I've been sleeping for ages, and it's starting to get old! I need to do something, but just, pleeeeease don't tell anyone?"

Kitty sighed and stared back at me reproachfully as I did my best impersonation of a hungry puppy. My efforts were in vain as after a few seconds, I coughed again.

"That's it, go back to bed! Don't make me call the others!" Kitty forcefully turned me around, and started pushing me back towards the stairs.

"C'mon, Kitty, I need to do this! No one even knows what's wrong with me anyway, and I'm feeling a lot better apart from the odd cough!"

For a small person, Kitty's deceptively strong.

"That's not what the professor told us, he said you were really sick! You fainted! You're coughing up blood!"

I used my only other tactic.

"Then he didn't also tell you that I might be contagious?"

Kitty's hands instantly stopped pushing on my back.

When I turned around, the look on her face was rather queasy. 

After a moment's silence she finally said: "I'm getting the professor."

"No, Kitty, you don't understand! They won't even let me at a computer, and I really need to! I've rested enough, and I'm going to go insane if I don't do something!"

"You already _are_ insane!"

"Trust me, all I'm going to do is go down that hall to the computer lab. Really. Have I ever lied?"

Kitty finally sighed.

"Fine! Go! Just don't mention me if it comes up, okay? And don't hurt yourself." Kitty turned around and walked back towards her room.

Smiling triumphantly, I turned and walked to the lab that had been haunting me.

*~*~*~*

I read fast, picking up only the important snatches of information, which I instantly stored away.

'Small baby… thin and harassed looking mother, aged around 16… the child, though appearing normal has remarkable DNA… test have proven… unidentified chromosomes… experiments on the child have deemed successful…. Unexplainable results… have estimated that the chromosome should have activated around 17 years of age… solitary confinement… dangerous…'

It stuck in my head. The X gene would have activated on it's own when I was 17… around now. This had to explain something, but how?

As far as I could tell, they did tests on me, and awakened my X gene prematurely. 

Sunday morning flashed through my head. The simple task of destroying the light bulb, which I had had down to a fine art had gone wrong. I knew my limits. I knew how much of my power it would take, but it seemed like there had been more there… of course!

I was instantly running down the corridor, my sheet billowing out behind me like a fancy white cape, and heading for Professor Xavier's rooms.

No one could figure out what was wrong with me. I didn't have any sort of virus or disease that they could find. But I had a fair idea of what it could be.

I needed to tell someone.

*~*~*~*

Xavier was ahead of myself once again, as he already had the adults in the room when I got there, puffing, panting, and practically choking.

"What's all this about, Professor?" Logan growled, obviously not happy for being disturbed.

Xavier looked me in the eyes, faintly amused. 

"It appears Selwyn might have an idea about what ails him."

I sat down on the velvet couch, Aurora rubbing my shoulders and back in a comforting way as a sucked in air, and started. 

"My whole body is what 'ails me'. From what I could decipher from the files about my early life, my professor did experiments on me. They discovered the X gene, lying dormant, and somehow found a way to activate it. That is why I was a mutant, even early on in my life, otherwise my gene would have been activated some time around now. Anyone getting an idea here?" I continued once the Professor nodded. 

"Well, as far as I can tell, my genes are confused. They've started creating whatever chemical it was that gave me whatever gift I have today, and as a result of that I've got a influx in my power. The problem is, that unlike my power just maturing, as it does in many mutant cases, all we have is too much of it. My body can't cope, and I haven't been using it. The result of all this is that…" I sucked in more air, partially breathless again from my hurried speech, and finished. "My power's taking it out on my body, fighting with the influx, and dissolving my vital organs."

I instantly felt queasy. It didn't seem so bad when I hadn't actually said it. "That is my hypothesis."

"And quite a hypothesis it is, and probably the closest thing to an answer we've had so far." Xavier said, wheeling closer, all traces of humour gone from his face.

Storm's shoulder rub was a lot more forceful. She was angry.

"How can they experiment on an innocent child like that? It's monstrous."

I looked at my hands.   
"Well, now that we have that sorted, I have but one question."

"Yes, what is it?"

Some would ask how long they had to live. Other would ask how they could stop what was happening. I, on the other hand, had a much different question.

"… Can I go back to school now?"

Sorry, I just needed to add that last line. I'm sorry for the wait, but I've been busy writing other stuff… not that this fic's not important, it's just that when inspiration hits, I have to go with it.

I'll understand if anyone wants to kill me for being evil towards my Sellie-kun, after all, what I did was rather harsh. I've been building up to this for a couple of chapters now, and we'll just have to see how it pans out.

Please review! I love reviews! I'll say nice things to you if you review! 


	8. Going Postal

**Fenrir44:** Hn.

**Sabby: **Of course you get a mention! If you review me, I'm grateful, so I say 'hi!'. I like that you like this chapter, I re-wrote the start several times because it stank like an out-house, and you didn't get an odd look for 'yee-haw', you got a snigger. Enjoy no da!

**ShadowCat: **Yes, as soon as I thought about that bit, I instantly thought 'that is so him' and used it to sorta break up the tension. ICE BREAKER! *pulls out ice-pick but is restrained by her muse* Heh… sorry about that… I've been downloading Hunter X Hunter manga off the internet and lemme just say, three hours straight of Gon is NOT good for your sanity. (BTW, if you stumble across this manga or anime, for the love of mike, read/watch it! It's soooooo good! A little gory though, but seeing Killua rip out someone's heart is just part of the fun! But don't let that put you off, you haven't seen them try to make sushi… *snigger*)

**Dreams of Magic: **Aah! *anime recoil* Okay! Okay!

Going Postal

I was infinitely happy to be in school again, even though all my friends treated me like I was made out of tissue paper and that I'd crumple if they breathed on me. After school was infinitely different though, I was picked up as soon as the bell rang, then ferried straight back to the institute for testing. I was scanned, poked, prodded, tested, gave blood samples, talked, argued, and all the while attempted to do my homework. All I can say is that it's a good thing that I'm left handed- there was a drip in my right, which would have made writing hard. I was fed rather bland (if not extremely healthy) _stuff_, and seemed to loose even more weight because of it. I had to take three pills morning, noon and night that were supposed to help, and felt like some sort of cancer patient on a bad day. There was almost always someone in shouting distance when I was taking a pill, and sometimes I had to forcefully keep my books out of someone else's hands if they thought the pile was getting too big for me to deal with.

It's like having a psychotically protective family after you, and I told them so several times, and each time, one of them would laugh, or smile good-naturedly and pat me on the back. It got old very quickly.

I sat one afternoon watching the guy fooling around outside the window. Rogue and I were sitting in silence as usual, and both of us were watching awith longing as Scott got Kurt in a brotherly strangle hold, and started giving him a noogie until he 'poofed' away. Rogue sighed.

She was longing for the contact that the others could have with each other. 

I was longing to be able to move freely like the others. 

We were somewhat alike, but at the same time, opposing forces. It was like our gifts were the complete opposites of each other. Hers siphoned off the energy of others, and mine used that energy against them. She was a black hole, and I was a super nova.

Something inside me clicked as my bored metaphors started to get worse and worse.

"Rogue, can you do something for me?"

Rogue blinked and turned to face me. "Yeah… what?"

"Come with me to the library?"

*~*~*~*

"So what's this about?"

"It's all rather simple." I removed one of my gloves, another similar trait to Rogues, and concentrated. "What I'm doing is letting down my mental barriers around my arm." Thank heavens I was wearing a sleeveless shirt. "This means that if anyone touches me… they're gonna loose an appendage. Just take off your gloves, and try touching my arm."

"What?! What if…"

"Please, just try it. even just brush a finger against my hand. I've just got this theory. And if this theory is right, we should expect something fairly drastic to happen…" I wiggled my eyebrows good-naturedly at her, and she rolled her eyes. Rogue approached.

I met her half-way, and out finger tips delicately touched each other.

There was an explosion without sound, and we were instantly thrown to opposite sides of the room.

"Oowie…" I rubbed the back of my head where there was now a book-spine shaped dent in it, and coughed weakly.

The door to library burst open, and Logan swept in (disobedient student sense tingling!) like a cloud of thunder.

He checked Rogue, who was in a similar state of groaning and rubbing her head, but with no real harm done, and glared at me. 

Why do they always assume that it's my fault?

"What happened?"

"It was just a little experiment… I wanted to see what would happen if we touched hands… I didn't expect this though…"

My ears were ringing, and everything sounded muffled. 

"What was that noise? It sounded like an explosion!" Jean pushed into the room, her red hair flying out behind her.

"Just an experiment…"

A line that I soon became famous for.

I sat up, still rubbing my head.

"Can we try that again?"

Rogue looked at me like I should have been locked away in a padded cell. "Are you kidding?"

"No, we just have to try harder…"

Rogue looked sick. "Maybe later?"  
"Pleeeease?"

Sometimes I'm too cute for my own good. For someone of about the same age as Rogue, you wouldn't suspect it. I must have looked like a skinny little ten-year old with my puppy-dog eyes, but it worked as she sighed.

On our third try (which had gained quite an audience), our hands stayed together for a few seconds before we both, instinctively pulled them apart. 

The look in Rogue's face said louder than words, 'you haven't passed out!' and I must have had a similar one that said 'your hand hasn't turned to ash!' from Logan's raised eyebrow.

"I TOLD you it would work!" I exclaimed, grinning like a loon. "Our powers eventually nutralise each other's! Yes-a!" 

With that, I collapsed again.

I awoke, once again in the white that I identified as the med-bay.

"You over-extended yourself again."

"I could easily agree with that…" I groaned, rasing a hand to wipe down my face.

It was held half-way by the strange feeling of the drip in my hand being reaching the end of its tether.  

"What this time?" I turned to look at the bag, and was surprised by what I saw.

"A blood transfusion? Am I really that bad?"

"This blood has been supplied by Logan,"

Eeeeeww.

"In hopes that it will build up your system again."

Oh great, things had gotten desperate when they brought in the guy with healing powers. I couldn't help but feel… unclean.

*~*~*~*

"Dude, that thing just prolonged your _life_."

"Yes, but how would you feel to know that you had Logan's blood flowing through you?"

There was silence in the conversation between Spyke and I as he thought it over.

"Point taken. See ya!" Spyke disappeared down the hallway as the first bell rang, and I was left on my own.

School again. It comforted me to have something solid in my life, something that I knew would be something that I could bury myself in before the white world of tests.

I found comfort in my lunch-time mandarin, in the shiny metal of the desk legs, and even in the almost constant contempt of the brotherhood.  It was wonderful to have squeaky linoleum beneath my feet, and the rancid smell of failed science experiments when I walked past the science block. 

One thing I couldn't rely on though, was my past coming back to bite me in the butt every once and a while.

I arrived back at the institute in the afternoon, and left my bag next to the door, crouching down next to it to extract my homework.

"Selwyn?"

"Yes, Storm?" I asked, glancing up briefly.

"There's a letter for you."

I left my half-empty bag, and walked over to Aurora.

The envelope was plain, with a window that showed my address from the top of the letter. It had no return address.

I opened it cautiously, and pulled out a one-page letter and small piece of plastic.

'Experiment 3146, Aka Selwyn K.A.I, the following is a description of your compensation for your participation in the Kinetic energy Artificial environment Intelligence program. Your pin number is 8973.'

A few lines down was a number. A large number. A seven-digit number. 

"Holy…." I refrained from swearing in front of an elder, and quickly sat down on the stairs.

"Selwyn, what is it?"

"Do they really think that _money_ will make up for keeping me in a _cage_ for most of my life?!"

I balled up the letter and threw it down on the ground.

There was a fury building up inside me that I didn't know that I could have possessed. My whole life had been an experiment, and now I was practically dying, and they expected me to forgive them and be grateful? Never.

I buried my head in my hands and tried to stop the headache I could feel forming, the card still held loosely in one hand.

I stood up abruptly and stomped off to the med bay, where I clutched the card during the entire procedure, and scowled. 

I scowled through my homework, and then scowled at the ceiling as I tried to sleep.

Some day, I'd find out who ran that experiment, who authorised it as humane, who ran the company, then serves their asses up on a platter. If I survived that long.

*sniffle* Well, he may not be happy, but he is rich… which will help fund something later *insane laughter*… *coughs* anyway, next chapter, stuff happens!  
Avalan:… And hopefully Soulsearch grows a brain.  
I have one… I just forget where I put it… ^__^'


	9. Adjusting your Views

**Sabby:** Chapters for all!

**WildfireFriendship:** Yes, read more!

**ShadowCat:** Yes, I am updating

**kurt-obsessed:** Oops… I knew that… well, obviously I didn't, so thanks for correcting me boo-boo!

Oops, this took a while. 

Avalan: A *while*?

Heh. ^-^' well, I've been busy. Everything has been due in lately, so… my parents banned me from all video games until I've finished, which is a futile and justice-less move if ever there was one. 

Avalan: Think of it this way. Now you can concentrate on your school projects better, ne?

-_-' Then why, precisely, am I doing this then?

Avalan: … Damn.

Adjusting your Views 

"Hello? Yes, hm, alright, whatever you think; lord knows I have no idea on this matter…. Alright, alright, yes. Thankyou. Goodbye."

I received a call from my stockbroker wanting to know if I wanted to sell. It was a little after twelve and I was lying outside on the grass outside the manor. The sky was high and blue above me, and I was revelling in my newly found freedom. The term had ended. Two weeks of little to do but relax. I knew that Kurt was ignoring his holiday homework with the belief that it might go away, but I had devoted my first day of the holidays to finishing every single tiny scrap of anything school-related so that I wouldn't have to worry about anything. Anything but one simple sheet of paper. (1)

I placed my mobile phone in the soft grass next to me, and inhaled the sweet smell of freshly cut grass mixing with the cool sea breeze. This was the life, and I firmly believed that I could have continued with my day-dreaming, if not for the sudden intrusion of Logan.

He loomed again, and very nearly frightened my wits out of me. 

I squinted past the meagre amount of sun that managed to get to my eyes, and moaned, "Is it time already?"

"Yeah. Stop daydreaming."

I retrieved my phone, clambered to my feet and followed Logan reluctantly back into the house. 

Time for another session. What happened, is that they feed me three pills, and then shove me into a black metal box. I can't wear much in the way of clothing because it 'distracts me' and because it wouldn't last very long. I need to concentrate so I can take down all my carefully constructed mental barriers, and so some if my ability can get out before I explode. So basically, it's a meditation session, because I've had some fairly major barriers up for as long as I remember, and if I don't pay attention to solely myself, I can accidentally put them back up, and all my embarrassment is for nought.

Thankfully enough, this rather strange procedure only needs to be done once a month, but leaves me feeling weak as a kitten for a while afterwards.

I grumbled a greeting to those that were there to monitor my progress, and had my t-shirt half off as I stepped past the thick metal door into my chamber. I half closed the door ( a rather strenuous activity), and kicked off my shoe and socks, depositing them and my t shirt in a pile outside the door, and then hiding in the gloom as I stepped out of my pants and boxers. I shoved the door shut behind me, then firmly locked it.

I sat gingerly down in the centre of the box ( it was rather cold) and started about the frustrating task of letting down the oldest and most stubborn of my walls. It is a sad day indeed when you have to find the weak spot and break a mental wall in your own mind.

When the first gave, it was like breaking a dam, and the others could not stand in its way. I heard the walls hissing as my gift flooded out of me, and if I had opened my eyes I would have seen the metal flaking off in layers. 

Time passed in leaps and bounds until my shoulders slumped with exhaustion. The Professor would have preferred if I had kept going until I would barely keep my head up, but I preferred still being able to do the tasks that I usually did with my 'gift' afterwards. I knew my limits. 

I set up all my barriers again before moving, then carefully peeled myself up form the pile of metal ash that had formed beneath me, then picked up a handful of it.

I ran the dust between my fingers a bit, and then blew it out of my palm. I gave all the dust a mental shove by rushing it along by charging all the atoms that the particles came across, catapulting them forwards, and then practiced something that I had come to start doing. When the dust met the remaining walls, I instantly formed a bond between the two. It wasn't too hard, basically all you had to do was introduce the two to each other, and nature did the rest, and I stood waiting until only a few disgruntled oxygen atoms and the rest of the normal clag were left, and opened the door a crack. 

"eh… hello?"

Seeing no one in the general vicinity, I toed my heap of clothing back into my chamber, changed, and then scurried out, leapt back up the stairs taking two at a time, and appeared in the kitchen with a flourish.

"I live and breathe once more!"

"Feeling better, I gather?" Scott asked wryly as I plucked a shiny red apple from the bowl in the middle of the table.

"I intend to live these holidays to the fullest of my capacity for fun." 

I threw the apple in the air, and forced the atoms apart right down the middle. I caught each respective half in a different hand, and winked at Scott as I attacked it. "I'm going for a walk. Later!"

*~*~*~*

Being tired could never last, not on a day like this, so I pushed out of the institute gate with the full intention of walking the entire way down to Bayville. As anyone could probably tell, I was in extremely high spirits despite most things that had happened in my life, as the year of school, my first and last drew nearer to a close, and plans for afterwards started developing. The sun shone through the trees lining my path, providing the perfect contrast between light and shade.  

I spent the better part of the afternoon strolling around Bayville, window shopping, and then slipped into one of the local pizza parlours (1), and ordered myself a quarter of a barbeque meat lovers pizza and a glass of orange juice. 

As I sat down and happily picked up my first slice, a body swung itself around and into my booth, landing heavily on the seat opposite mine. Lance grinned impishly at me.

"What do you want?"

Lance didn't answer, but instead stole a slice of my pizza and took a bite out of it. 

"I know something you might be very interested to know."

"Yes? And what might that be?" I asked cautiously. Lance always came across as the type that I shouldn't have trusted in a flying fit, or at least until we got past the stage where he made scathing comments when he passed me in the halls, so naturally, I was rather suspicious. I was also rather annoyed, as the slice he had stolen was the one that I had been saving up specially for the end.

"We've got a business proposition for you."

'We'. That either meant that he was here on behalf of the brotherhood, or that he suddenly thought he was royalty. 

I stared at him flatly while Lance demolished the slice he had pinched, then wiped his fingers on my one and only napkin.

"You see, we've come across some information you might be interested in, and the boss wants to know if you might be in for a bust."

"A bust?"

I had never heard of one before.

"You know, wreak a little havoc," he paused in his list to smile again, "get a little revenge…" Lance shrugged negligently.

"What do you mean, 'revenge'?"

Lance leant forward and smiled triumphantly. I had managed to work myself into a corner.

"Magneto knows where Melgwyn's being kept."

Eeeh heee haa haa. Soul is a genius.

Avalan: I know! ^-^. Today is opposite day.

P. I'm a genius, and you're the most loveable, wonderous and kind muse known to man.

Avalan: *flatly* I adore you.


End file.
